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Monaco
Race19h 59m
Oscar Piastri said McLaren are “just lacking grip” and that there were “not too many levers” available to improve it after he qualified seventh for the Monaco Grand Prix. Piastri said: "We're just lacking grip compared to the others. I think compared to yesterday, the car actually felt a pretty decent step nicer to drive, which is good. But also bad, when you're still as far off as we are. So we have got a bit closer, things feel a bit nicer, but when you are lacking grip, unfortunately, there's not too many levers you can pull to make up for it."
Toto Wolff says George Russell’s Monaco Grand Prix qualifying struggle was driven by a lack of confidence in the Mercedes car, after Russell ended the session sixth while team-mate Kimi Antonelli took pole. Wolff said: "He just never had the confidence in the car. Qualifying started on a back foot. FP3 was still very OK. And once you start to run behind the performance and you lose the confidence, it's super difficult to catch up again. And I think it would have been one session more, he would have been there or thereabouts, but he didn't have any grip. Monaco, no grip means you can't push it."
Max Verstappen said Red Bull’s turnaround in Monaco qualifying was “extremely positive” after the team had “difficulties with the car” in final practice, with the Dutchman ending up second on the grid just 0.04 seconds behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen said: "If you would've told me yesterday [that I would] be on the front row, I definitely would've taken it. Also [in final practice] this morning, I think we had some difficulties with the car, so heading into Qualifying and being up there I think was extremely positive. Overall, of course, I'm very happy with how Qualifying went, how all the laps went, even though I had to deal with all the traffic and the walls."
George Russell says he is “bamboozled” by his pace deficit to Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, and thinks the gap is linked to how their different driving styles affect the tyres. Russell said: "There's clearly a difference in driving style between the two of us. It's clear in the data. The difference is how we're driving has such an impact on the tyres, and he's just getting the tyres in a nicer window than me and a nicer balance over the course of the lap, and the pace is just coming easier for him. I don't know why that is. I've been driving in this manner in my whole career and now, for whatever reason, it's not working with this car."
Max Verstappen says Formula 1 starts have been “quite complicated” this season and he is wary of the Ferraris behind him after qualifying on the front row for the Monaco Grand Prix, second to Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen said: "And then tomorrow, let's see... These cars are quite complicated to start, so I have two cars behind me that start quite well, but we'll see."
George Russell said he does not know why he was so far off the pace of Mercedes team-mate and title rival Kimi Antonelli after qualifying sixth for the Monaco Grand Prix, with Antonelli taking pole. Russell said: "I don't really know what's going on to be honest. It's clearly something with my driving that's not helping the car at the moment. But that was there at the start of the year as well. If I look at Melbourne and at least China until I have my issues, it was P1 every single session. The last three races have just been nowhere. So I don't have an answer for that."
Charles Leclerc said he was “very disappointed” to qualify fourth on the grid for his home race, after struggling with his Ferrari’s brakes and describing another difficult weekend following similar problems in Canada. Leclerc said: "I'm very disappointed. It's been an incredibly tough weekend. It has been an incredibly tough two last weekends with quite a lot of issues on my side. I'm pretty confident we'll have a solution for next race. So far it's been very, very tricky. The fact that, on braking, I just don't really know where to brake getting to Q3 after [three practice sessions] makes it very tricky for me."
Lewis Hamilton said his Ferrari felt “drastically different” in qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix compared with practice, despite the team “barely” changing anything, after taking third on the grid. Hamilton said: "Tough for us, I think we were looking so strong in Practice and we barely changed anything but the car was drastically different once we got to Qualifying for some reason, so we have to take a deep dive into that. I gave it absolutely everything and was as close to the barriers as I could be."
Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington said it was clear Kimi Antonelli had “raw talent” almost immediately when the Italian first tested the team’s TPC cars. Peter Bonnington said: "To be fair, it was before he actually started competing in the championship. When we had him in the TPC cars, it was quite evident that he had the talent straight away, you know. You have young drivers come along and it takes them a while to get up to speed. I think it probably took Kimi about four laps to start matching the high speed, and if you can match the high speed, you know that the kid's got some raw talent."
Kimi Antonelli said his Monaco Grand Prix pole-position lap was a "magic lap" after edging Max Verstappen in a close qualifying battle at the Circuit de Monaco. Antonelli said: "It was one of those laps that we call a magic lap, you know? I was able to put it all together, and it was such a close qualifying session with Max. In the first run of Q3, there was just one thousandth between us, but I knew the last lap was good, and I was just hoping it would be enough. But yeah, it was very close, and I'm very happy with that."
Charles Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, Alex Albon and Arvid Lindblad have been summoned to the stewards after qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. Leclerc is to be investigated as “another party” following an allegation of Hulkenberg “driving unnecessarily slowly during the tunnel”, contrary to race director Rui Marques’ pre-event notes, with the hearing set for 17:45 local time. Albon and Lindblad have also been summoned over a pit-lane incident that was not shown on the world feed, and will see the stewards at 18:00.
F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli snatched Monaco GP pole position away from Max Verstappen as Ferrari's challenge fell short in qualifying
⚪️ Kimi Antonelli: “It was one of those laps that we call a magic lap. I was able to put it all together. It was such a close qualifying with Max. The first run of Q3 there was just one millisecond between us. “But I knew the last lap was good and I was just hoping that it would be enough. It was very close, and I'm very happy with that. Massive thanks to the team because yesterday we struggled a little bit and today we were able to improve massively." 🔵 Max Verstappen: "If you would have told me yesterday to be on the front row, I would have definitely taken it. This morning we had quite some difficulties with the car so heading into qualifying and being up there was extremely positive. So overall, of course, extremely happy with how qualifying went, how all the laps went even though you have to deal with all the traffic - and also the walls. "But I'm happy to be on the front row and then, tomorrow, let's see in the start. I have two cars behind me that start quite well but we'll see." 🔴 Lewis Hamilton: “It was tough for us. We were looking so strong in practice, and we barely changed anything, but the car was drastically different once we got to qualifying for some reason, so we have to take a deep dive into that. “I gave it absolutely everything. I was as close to the barriers as I could be. I think it is definitely very close between us all. I thought we almost maybe nearly had it, and then Max put in a good time and then Kimi. I think it’s great to see how close all the cars are. I think we lost something going into today, and that’s what we need to try to figure out.”
P1) Kimi Antonelli P2) Max Verstappen: +0.043 P3) Lewis Hamilton: +0.228 P4) Charles Leclerc: +0.300 P5) Isack Hadjar: +0.383 P6) George Russell: +0.394 P7) Oscar Piastri: +0.573 P8) Lando Norris: +0.714 P9) Pierre Gasly: +1.175 P10) Liam Lawson: +1.361 Knocked Out (Q2) P11) Alexander Albon P12) Carlos Sainz P13) Nico Hülkenberg P14) Franco Colapinto P15) Arvid Lindblad P16) Gabriel Bortoleto Knocked Out (Q1) P17) Esteban Ocon P18) Sergio Perez P19) Oliver Bearman P20) Valtteri Bottas P21) Fernando Alonso P22) Lance Stroll
A first red flag has been flown during qualifying at the Circuit de Monaco.
🇲🇨 Qualifying
Ferrari and Audi have raised concerns over the proposed change to F1’s 2027 power-unit rules that would shift the current 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power to 60/40 in favour of the ICE, despite the FIA saying it was “agreed in principle”. During manufacturer meetings over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Ferrari’s worries were said to centre on how the Additional Development and Upgrades Opportunities (ADUO) framework would apply, while Audi is reportedly pushing for a slower change – a smaller shift in 2027 before moving fully to 60/40 in 2028 – mainly on cost and feasibility grounds. A formal decision is due at the next PUAC meeting on June 14.
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